Harry and Meghan’s media storm shows the power and peril of their brand

If Prince Harry and his wife Meghan were hoping the press would give them an easier time on their return to Britain, the frenzied reporting around her potential new acting role may indicate how they, and their brand, will fare. With most royal commentators flummoxed by the couple’s imminent return to Britain six years after they left for the U.S., reports emerged that Meghan was in talks to appear in a Guy Ritchie Netflix crime drama, before a new report said a backlash had prompted the offer to be withdrawn. While neither side confirmed nor denied any talks, branding experts said it showed what the couple would offer to brands and entertainment groups as they build their life outside the royal family: huge media interest, polarised opinions and drama. But it also shows the challenge they will face as they seek to promote the charities and brands they work with and attempt to maintain some kind of privacy, in a country where polling shows they have become unpopular, at least among older people. “You can’t buy this kind of publicity for a TV show,” entertainment journalist Caroline Frost told Reuters. Mark Borkowski, a British PR guru, agreed: “Both Harry and Meghan give people visibility. They can generate an audience.” COUPLE CITED INTENSE SCRUTINY AS REASON TO LEAVE Harry, the 41-year-old younger son of King Charles, and Meghan, 45, are returning to Britain six years after they cited the intense media scrutiny as one reason they were quitting royal duties to carve out independent careers, backed by commercial tie-ups. In the early years they made headlines around the world when, through an interview with Oprah Winfrey, a Netflix documentary series and Harry’s autobiography “Spare”, they criticised the royal family and lambasted the British press. Borkowski said the “trashing of the royal family” angered many people in Britain, where a July YouGov poll showed that 64% of respondents want to retain the monarchy. “People just found it unpalatable that he was attacking the very family that brought him up,” he said. Since then a reported $100 million Netflix deal and a $20 million Spotify agreement have been downgraded and brought to an end respectively, while Meghan’s lifestyle brand As Ever has struggled to take off — setbacks that have all been reported with glee by some British newspapers. RETURN TO ENGLAND COULD REFRESH MEGHAN’S BRAND Branding experts said a return to Britain could offer the chance for a reset. Pauline MacLaran, professor of marketing at Royal Holloway University, said a move to the English countryside could work well for Meghan’s lifestyle brand, which sells spreads, candles, teas and wine in the U.S. “Her coming to England could really bring about a new story, the English touch, the English flavour. And I think that would be very popular with her American consumers to refresh the brand,” she said, adding that Meghan would likely struggle to sell in Britain. Catherine Mayer, an author who has written about the treatment of women in the royal family, said while there was initially a lot of excitement when Meghan first moved to Britain, the fairytale curdled quickly. “She has had some of the worst coverage, and consistently terrible coverage, that I have seen in all my research,” she said, adding that inevitably affected their business interests. To their supporters, Harry and Meghan were a young couple forced to flee Britain to avoid racist and misogynistic reporting, unwilling to play the game where the press and the royals cooperate to keep the monarchy at the centre of the national story. To their detractors they sold their story to the highest bidder, making tens of millions of pounds by dishing the dirt on Harry’s family, threatening the future of the institution and all while demanding their own privacy. To add to the picture, Harry has also in recent years sued many of Britain’s leading tabloids for invasions of privacy. Entertainment journalist Frost said Britons can be quick to judge but they respect those who work hard – and a return to acting for Meghan, particularly on the stage, could change the narrative. She added, however, that it could also be hard for someone so famous to disappear into a role. Borkowski said both Harry and Meghan were assured performers in public, capable of drawing attention to any charities they work with, but they would need a new approach to handle the intense scrutiny from social and legacy media that will resume. “If they listen to good advice and they surround themselves with good people, then I think the future’s bright,” he said.